Three days before turning 18, China’s Su Yiming received his first Olympic gold medal in the men’s snowboard big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday.
Su scored a jaw-dropping 93 points with a clean finish of a backside triple cork 1800 indy in his second run, leading the score with a combined 182.5 points.
Takeru Otsuka of Japan and Max Parrot of Canada spiced up the final and elevated the level of competitiveness after scoring 95 and 94 points, respectively, in the second run. Unfortunately, both fell on the ramp in their first attempt.
Chris Corning of USA, who was leading with 92 points after the first run, also needed a third chance to raise his score after failing the second attempt.
Parrot, who outscored Su in the slopestyle final eight days ago, played it safe in his last run, performing a frontside triple cork 1620 that earned him 76.25 points, thus losing his chance to surpass Su.
Otsuka and Corning, shortly after, also pulled out of the title-chasing race as they failed to land firmly on the ramp.
A third attempt was no longer necessary for the sensational Chinese snowboarder, after Mons Roisland of Norway finished his race with a total of 171.75 points that placed him in second.
(L-R) Mons Roisland, Su Yiming and Max Parrot photographed on the podium after the men’s snowboard big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Big Air Shougang in Beijing, China, February 15, 2022. /CFP
Su and his coach Yasuhiro Sato looked exceptionally calm before his last run, but the teenager could no longer hold it in the moment he landed on the ramp. Su has pocketed two medals now at Beijing 2022, the previous one a silver in snowboard slopestyle.
This was Team China’s sixth gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics, breaking the five-gold record made in Vancouver in 2010.
Also on Tuesday, China’s Rong Ge finished fifth with 160 points in the women’s snowboard big air final.
